Anniversary Game 5/Anonymous Game 4: One Final Blaze of Light

[A Joe in the Bush]

@Ookla of the Flame, your sign up is noted. If you are planning on changing your name back to The Young Pyromancer before the game ends, we would appreciate it if you did so before the game begins

[The Young Pyromancer]

Yeah, I was just about to do that.

Shouldn't matter too much though, as it is an anonymous game.

[A Joe in the Bush]

probably not, but I've made far stupider mistakes before.

[The Young Pyromancer]

While I'm at it...

By the way, the timer is broken.

Not that it will matter for very long.

[A Joe in the Bush]

The Entire Timer site has been broken for a couple of weeks now. It's annoying.

[The Young Pyromancer]

Ah.  That makes sense.

I always wondered how you did that. 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Signups are now closed. All further players will be Pinch Hitters. Turn 1 starts in 5 minutes. Pm's are going out now. Remember, Log out of your Shard Accounts, Log into the Anon accounts provided in your PM's, and don't enter a doc except in Incognito mode if you want to stay anonymous.

[Seonid]

Day 1 - A Shadow of the Past

The wind blew across what passed for plains, here in the Spiritual Realm. The man who had called himself Sheon Idris in life turned his face from his contemplation of a steel and gold crown, now worn with the use of many years. The single word etched into the metal was practically worn away now, though his eyes could see it as clearly as the day he had carved it himself. Unforgiven. He looked to his left, expecting a visitor to appear, as had often come when moods like this came upon him. But that was right, she had moved on. Or had she? He couldn't remember.

With a flicker of his will, his attention turned back to the Physical Realm. The Shards were preparing for war again. Incredible devastation. Incalculable destruction. All because of him and his meddling. A universe torn apart, just like its god. And every time he had attempted to put things right, things had only gotten worse. The Shardic Coalition and the wars against Odium, the great Civil War, where his own followers had torn the power of the Shards from his grasp and held them in containment. And then the Silverlight War, which had ended with Autonomy ruling the entire Cosmere for...how long had it been now? Time passed slowly here, or at least the perception of it did.

And he was so old now, and so tired. Was it time to give up? Time to admit that he could not put back together what had been broken, and each time he tried it only broke things further? Time to go on into forever, and...well, whatever came after?

Maybe. After all, how long had it been since he'd actually tried to pull the strings of the cosmos? Longer than it should have been, for sure.

But the thought of just giving up and giving in awoke his old stubbornness to something like a sullen fire, deep within. He had failed many times, seen death and destruction and pain and loss and hate and horror so many times. And he would not sit back and let that win. He had a job to do, tired or not. Old or not. Once more into the breach, this time counting for all of them.

He called up his avatar, the body he used to walk the realms. It had a name, didn't it? Something...stirring. Something that reminded him of...of colors on the flags of Hallandren, or electric lights in the night of Scadrial, or the smell of freshly fallen rain after a Highstorm. What was it, again? Ah, that was it.

Hoid. The Wanderer. King's Wit, once, if he recalled right. He had probably been a storming good one.

And with another little flicker of will, he stepped into Silverlight. The Shards were about to go to war again, for whatever reason. It would be chaos, and he could use chaos. Khriss was still out there, and she would try and stop him, and he would use that too. With a little laugh, he went off to play with their war, one last time.

Unforgiven. But not yet broken.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Welcome to AG 5: One Final Blaze of Light! As a reminder, Day 1 will not have a lynch, but you may otherwise use any Day Turn actions freely. You should all have received role PMs by now - if you haven't, please contact @A Joe in the Bush or myself immediately.

Player List:
1. Amethyst Scorpion
2. Azure Mouse
3. Amber Vulture
4. Charcoal Hyena
5. Chartreuse Penguin
6. Coral Swan
7. Cream Tuatara
8. Emerald Falcon
9. Fuschia Ostrich
10. Indigo Weasel
11. Ivory Dragonfly
12. Magenta Albatross
13. Mauve Crocodile
14. Melon Dingo
15. Mint Heron
16. Onyx Flamingo
17. Opal Lion
18. Oxblood Beagle
19. Pearl Chameleon
20. Plum Rhinoceros
21. Quartz Zebra
22. Saffron Iguana
23. Sage Kangaroo
24. Salmon Meerkat
25. Sapphire Elephant
26. Scarlet Octopus
27. Sunburst Toucan
28. Taupe Gecko
29. Turquoise Gorilla
30. Violet Axolotl

The day will last until Wednesday, January 16th, 1:00 AM, Mountain Time

Edited January 16, 2019 by Seonid

[Chartreuse Penguin]

A divine breath burned within him, feeding him, keeping him alive. 
For another week, anyways. 
As he blazed across the cognitive realm, he saw glimpses of the war yet to come. Investiture where investiture did not normally lie. Shards were beginning to war, and the entire cosmere was at stake. Again.
But he was not here for the shards, not yet anyway. He had family to rescue, and a psychotic villain to banish. Preferably before the Shards started ripping the very Realms apart. Or before his week ran out. Or before that man killed his sister. All of the above were bad options. 
His spren followed him, as always barely keeping up. But he could hardly pay attention to that. He flared the steel inside him brighter, turning the metalminds he had ingested into speed. 
But where to go? Did he even have a good idea of where the madman would have taken his sister? Not Roshar, the Knights would have been on high alert after last time. Nalthis, they had just left from. Scadrial was a terrible option, given the sheer number of invested technologies and people there. Taldain, Yolen, Threnody, Sel... all were options. Plus a few other backwater planets accessible from the cognitive realm. Who was to say? 
Perhaps there were some other options for tracking the man down. A man from a different reality couldn't be undetectable, even if he had managed to steal a spiritual aspect. And if he really had, as he had implied by his desire for speed... perhaps there was an investiture art to track him. Probably a spiritual art, all things considered. The best place to go then, would be back to his home- Scadrial. Perhaps a terrisman could help him find where the villain had Connected himself to. 
--
While it's quite likely you'll be able to guess my identity, I'm not going to confirm or deny it. Anyway, this game should be fun so long as everyone stays active. Although, we do have a nice backlog of pinch hitters, and while that doesn't condone going into inactivity, that does mean we have a bit of a cushion. Let's give Seonid a nice dramatic send off from SE. Go out with a bang, or something like that. Anyway, I'll be around. Probably. 

[Magenta Albatross]

Tessa DeLoren hurried through the dark streets, Darkside's crowds parting around her without noticing the slight woman. "We just got word from Scadrial. Autonomy's aspect there has gone missing as well. Any news on your end yet?" the voice in her ear asked.

"Nothing yet, but the Sand Lord's is remarkably reclusive. I've got a pretty good lead on his current name identity and home though. Shouldn't take more than half an hour." she responded. Autonomy's aspects had ruled from the shadows for the past centuries. Maybe 'ruled' was too strong a word. They let the various governments do as they wanted, as long as inter-world cooperation was never considered, and power on any given Shardworld was never consolidated in the hands of too few. Yet when their edicts where crossed, Autonomy's aspect's reaction was strong, and though they always gave the illusion of choice, none dared oppose the shard after the other Shards had retreated before their power.

All that had changed two years ago, or maybe far longer ago, they weren't really sure. One despot had risen on Roshar, and crossed Autonomy's arbitrary line with impunity. And nothing happened. Her group had started investigating soon after, and confirmed that Roshar's Aspect had disappeared. They'd started looking elsewhere after that. Nalthis, New Silverlight, Autonomy's grip on had been loosened everywhere. Or thorn away.

Tessa arrived at the unassuming home that her contact had claimed was currently occupied by the Sand Lord. The crowds had thinned, which suited her just fine. she ducked in an alleyway, and once she was out of sight she quickly hooped over the fence surrounding the house's garden. She landed in a garden filled with Darkside's peculiar bioluminescent plants and held still, scanning her surroundings. All was quiet in the small garden, and the only movement was a cat strolling lazily through the garden.

After several minutes of watching her surroundings, Tessa stalked towards the house's door. She took a set of lock-picks out of her pocket and set to work on the old and rusty lock. She quickly gave up her attempts to pick it, as the thing was rusted entirely shut, and no amount of finesse would open it. She had several toys with her that could open a lock like that, but all of those where quite.s. foreign, and the aspects disapproved of taking tech like this to worlds that couldn't match it. 

She looked over the door again and noted that it looked quite old and worn in its entirety. That was unusual for this neighborhood, but maybe an immortal aspect didn't care that much for maintaining their home. She braced her shoulder against the door, and gave it a careful shove. To her surprise, the door immediately gave in, and with a groan of splintering wood and crash of breaking glass collapsed to the ground.

Tessa froze like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, but all was silent again, and no sign came from the house that anyone was there to notice, so after a moment to gather her composure she headed in. 

The smell of mold hit her the moment she crossed the threshold. The house was in an extreme state of disrepair, with pain basically falling from the walls, and mold growing on patches on anything that could feed it. 'This isn't right...' she muttered. Her information was reliable, and the Sand Lord hadn't been living here long enough to allow the place to fall into this kind of disrepair.

She quickly checked the small home, but saw nothing, and the only sound she heard was the crunch of her boots on the ash on the ground. Curious, she took a closer look, and saw that it was not ash, but black sand.

Her thoughts where interrupted before she could process this find by a loud crash, as one of the roofs supporting beams collapsed in on itself, followed shortly by a large section of roof. The entire house was collapsing around her!

She quickly grabbed a small crystal from her belt, and threw it on the ground, shattering it. She felt the shock of released investiture, and willed herself through. In a fraction of a second, she'd transferred to the cognitive realm, saved from the collapsing building. Not safe though, as the ghostly version of the house she was now standing in was covered in black, tar-like investiture. She didn't need to ask whose investiture it was, and didn't stick around to find out, rushing out of the house as fast as her legs could carry her.

To her relief, the stain of Ruin stretched no further than the one house. The planet was safe, for now.

"Vahal." she spoke in her earpiece which had been cleverly disguised as a piece of Darkside Jewelry. "The Sand Lord is gone. And it seems that Ruin, at the very least, is back on the board."

***

edit:

@Seonid, I noticed that there's no rules for what happens when a vessel that did not invest and is the last person in their faction dies. What would happen in that case?

Edited January 14, 2019 by Magenta Albatross
more grammar (because who needs proof-reading anyway?)

[Quartz Zebra]

Radler stood on the corner of the street, nervously peering around the gleaming silver buildings to watch the door to his “associate’s” house. Supposedly, if he waited long enough, the man would emerge. But he had waited for three hours, with no result, and the house still looked vacant as ever. Was a chance to be involved in the politics of yet another war between the Shards, to be another meddling Worldhopper, really worth this? He pivoted, ready to stalk away or to walk up to the silver door, and bang on it—he hadn’t decided which yet—when an icily cold hand seized his shoulder. 

Resisting the impulse to scream, Radler struck without thinking, driving his fist into the other fellow’s stomach. Feeling his breath leave him, the man doubled over, coughing, yet smiling grimly up at Radler. Radler backed away, seeing the other man rise, and studying his clothes, a tangled assortment of colours and styles. But they all somehow...fit...him. The other man, recovering his breath, spoke. “So, patience and resourcefulness. Perhaps my initial judgements were wrong. Another chance to serve may yet be offered you.” Radler gasped. This was his employer? The man’s gloved hand rose, pointing with surprising ferocity towards his house. “Come,” he said. “We have much to discuss about your role in this.”

---

My apologies for the shorter RP. I’m somewhat constrained by time here. I feel boundlessly expectant to participate in this, the last Shard game, and I hope it’s memorable and fun. 

Anyone up for claiming a Shard? I’ve got Survival over here in my faction. 

[Onyx Flamingo]

Exvee didn’t know what he was doing here.  He was new to the Worldhopping scene, he’d only heard brief mentions of Shards and now they were having a war. He recounted what he’d been told about the gods and then realised he hadn’t been told much other than ‘they’re prices of a much bigger god’, which left quite a lot to the imagination.

“Um, hi,” he said to a passing worldhopper, who ran past without a second thought.

He attempted to gather the attention of multiple worldhoppers this way. None of them seemed particularly cooperative in explaining just why a Shardic War was so worrying.

Humming as he walked through Silverlight, Exvee realised ignorance was bliss. If he didn’t know why a war of gods was so frightening, he had nothing to be frightened about.

So he bought a Chouta and tried not to listen to the talkings of war spreading through the city.

[Opal Lion]

Hello, hello! Before I start talking, everybody look at my avatar. I KNOW. IT'S SO CUTE.

ahem. 

There's no lynch today, which means no one gets to fall victim to poke votes and consequently die on the first turn of the game. Fantastic. Although I expect the game to get fairly chaotic shortly, what with there being four different sources of kills (including the lynch). This is bound to be fun. 

3 hours ago, Quartz Zebra said:

I’ve got Survival over here in my faction. 

Oh no you've exposed your faction 

A question, @Seonid. Soz if it's already been cleared up somewhere in the rules but do Autonomy's aspects count towards the 'outnumber all other players' wincon? Yes, I have not forgotten how sneakily Autonomy pulled a win off in the last Shard game. I will not let it happen again.

 

[Cream Tuatara]

Garden Rumsee was not a chef. When traveling, everyone always asked him what the kitchen would be making for dinner that night, as if he were part of the Hotel staff.  Did he look like the Chef? He always got weird looks when he went out and bought Street food. The chouta vendor gave Garden a confused glare, as if he were a five-star chef. After all, why would a five-star chef purchase street food. 

Garden huffed, and turned, with his chouta, and found the nearest park bench to rest while he ate. As he sat, he pulled out his flask of licquor and the spread sheet under his arm, and began pondering the important questions of the day.

What's this about the shards beginning a war?

Does that mean silverlight is no longer safe? Where should I go? Where in the cosmere could be safe

What is it about my name, or my persona that suggests that I'm a Chef?

What's that man so blissful about? @Onyx Flamingo

This chouta tastes stale. When is the last time that vendor restocked his cart with new ingredients.  

 

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by Cream Tuatara

[Sapphire Elephant]

4 hours ago, Opal Lion said:

Yes, I have not forgotten how sneakily Autonomy pulled a win off in the last Shard game. I will not let it happen again.

Would you mind explaining that for those of us who did not play in the last Shard game? This game is complicated enough as is and I feel that if I go and read through another game's rule set I'll just get more confused... 

[Seonid]

5 hours ago, Opal Lion said:

Hello, hello! Before I start talking, everybody look at my avatar. I KNOW. IT'S SO CUTE.

ahem. 

There's no lynch today, which means no one gets to fall victim to poke votes and consequently die on the first turn of the game. Fantastic. Although I expect the game to get fairly chaotic shortly, what with there being four different sources of kills (including the lynch). This is bound to be fun. 

Oh no you've exposed your faction 

A question, @Seonid. Soz if it's already been cleared up somewhere in the rules but do Autonomy's aspects count towards the 'outnumber all other players' wincon? Yes, I have not forgotten how sneakily Autonomy pulled a win off in the last Shard game. I will not let it happen again.

 

Autonomy's aspects do not count towards the Last Man Standing win con. I make no promises about whether they may or may not count towards a faction's secret win condition.

[Violet Axolotl]

Just checking in. I’ll be back later to read more...

[Opal Lion]

42 minutes ago, Sapphire Elephant said:

Would you mind explaining that for those of us who did not play in the last Shard game? This game is complicated enough as is and I feel that if I go and read through another game's rule set I'll just get more confused... 

If I remember correctly, each Shard had a secret wincon of their own in that game. Autonomy's was to create an aspect on every world and, well, because nobody quite anticipated that, Autonomy got away with conveniently worldhopping to every world and leaving an aspect on it. The game came to an abrupt end as soon as they satisfied their wincon. I'm guessing the main reason no one ever saw it coming was because it seemed too easily achievable to be a wincon that a lot of us didn't even consider it...

32 minutes ago, Seonid said:

Autonomy's aspects do not count towards the Last Man Standing win con. I make no promises about whether they may or may not count towards a faction's secret win condition.

iNTerEstInG

[Salmon Meerkat]

Hey everyone. I don't know what to say other than it's a travesty I can't upvote anyone's posts. All this RP is practically begging for it! I think I know why these accounts are like that but it's a shame all the same.

OH! There is one thing I'd like to request, though. For any role that can create PMs, I hope you consider putting me in some. If I had the ability to I'd be speaking with everyone right now hahahah.

[Azure Mouse]

Hello.

I'm wondering whether I should RP, as I've revealed my character's name in the signups.

Mostly, I'm just checking in and saying hi. I'm excited to worldhop and stuff!

[Charcoal Hyena]

8 minutes ago, Azure Mouse said:

Hello.

I'm wondering whether I should RP, as I've revealed my character's name in the signups.

Mostly, I'm just checking in and saying hi. I'm excited to worldhop and stuff!

You could always make a new character and RP with that, I think that's what everyone is going to do, I know I am.

[Turquoise Gorilla]

1 hour ago, Salmon Meerkat said:

Hey everyone. I don't know what to say other than it's a travesty I can't upvote anyone's posts. All this RP is practically begging for it! I think I know why these accounts are like that but it's a shame all the same

You could upvote them with your regular account. Upvotes don't say who they're from so there is minimal risk in being discovered

7 hours ago, Opal Lion said:

Hello, hello! Before I start talking, everybody look at my avatar. I KNOW. IT'S SO CUTE.

That is a very cute lion

[Oxblood Beagle]

The roads of Hallandren bustled as always, alight with color and scent. Merchants shouted their wares from every side, occasionally accompanied by mechanical displays and sounds that buzzed, blinked and whirred in the whole spectrum of hues. The merchants’ strong voices somehow rose over the clamor of the crowd, which was just as noisy and varied as most of their outfits. Seren caught snatches of dialects from all over the Cosmere, bits of Rosharan, Southern Scadrian, even Therondy from the shoppers ambling by. Though the influence of Autonomy had constricted the interplanetary economy for centuries—before Seren’s great-great-great-great-greatgrandfather was even born, the markets of Hallandren still sported wares from places as exotic as the Drominad system.

But Seren wasn’t here to browse, as much as he’d like to. No, he had to get to the port. Alarm jumped into his expression as he glanced at the posted time fabrial. He was late! His uncle was coming from New Chedesh, and if he shared any of his brother’s (Seren’s father) sternness, then any tardiness would not be tolerated. He wove between the crowds, ducking under baskets and dodging children.

The people lessened the further he got from the market, and Seren ducked into an alleyway. A shortcut. By his memory, this route would skip an entire intersection, probably shaving half a minute off his time. He plotted the course in his head as he ran, half-mindedly avoiding waste bins and stray cats. Yes, this is the best way—

—and then suddenly he was laying on his back, a man standing over him. Pain spotted in Seren’s eyes, but he still noticed the stark drabness of the man’s clothing. An Idrian? He numbly thought. The man furrowed his thick brows as he examined Seren. He harrumphed.

“Watch where you’re going, by Domi…” the man grumbled. He tapped his ear and turned away from Seren. “The Aspect is gone, yes, confirmed—” pause “—Silverlight? As soon as possible.” Meanwhile, Seren struggled to his feet. He was about to ask the man a question when a voice came from behind.

“Hey Edoli, I saw this—who is this?”

Seren spun around to see a woman, dressed more colorfully, but not quite as drastic as most Nalthians, pointing at him. Edoli grumbled something.

“Speak up, would you?” The woman said.

“I don’t know! He just appeared, from Domi knows where.”

The woman looked at him inquisitively, and suddenly Seren felt very vulnerable. After a brief moment, it seemed like she had made her mind. In one fluid motion, she stepped forward, grabbing Seren’s arm, and extended her other hand to Edoli.

“We’ll just take him with us,” she said. Edoli’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“WHAT? He’s just some random kid off the street!”

Seren was now very confused and glanced back and forth between the arguing duo. “Um,” he started. Both pairs of eyes focused on him. “Take me where?” To this, the woman grinned, and Edoli rubbed his forehead.

“Adventure.”

[Violet Axolotl]

At this point there’s really not much to say other then that as in most Shard games, the most important roles are going to be the Shards and how they invest(dominion, feel free  ), followed closely by the Feruchemist and voidbringer (excluding of course any secrets I don’t know). The vote manip will be likely be an interesting thing to analyze, as within a few cycles they could change hands, assuming that people are using it consistently. I am also wanting to be put into pms, if anyone wants to put me in one. 

[Ivory Dragonfly]

Never again.

That was Makido's consuming thought as he stood before the rebuilt campus of SilverPoly. The institute was a pale shadow of its former grandeur, a consequence of Ruin's rampage and Autonomy's subsequent crackdown on interplanetary cooperation. Makido would see SilverPoly rise once more to its status as a beacon of enlightenment. Makido did not know how or why Autonomy's influence had lessened, but he was determined that this time Autonomy would not be victorious.

He had read the accounts of the Silverlight War, and they all agreed that complacency and focusing on Ruin as a threat had allowed Autonomy to triumph and bring about the Dark Ages of scientific regression. In the coming days, Makido could help reverse all that. Trade routes would be opened between worlds. Immigration would be freely permitted. And SilverPoly would spread knowledge throughout the Cosmere. Standing between the Cosmere and this bright future were the other Shards, some of which could cause even worse devastation than Autonomy. They would have to be trapped away, hidden, or at least controlled by the conflict of opposing Intents. The desire for power had sparked the Silverlight War, and such a calamity must be prevented.

Never again.